Immortal Rider_ Lords of Deliverance Series_ - Larissa Ione [120]
“You want a DNA test? I’m human. My parents were both Guardians.” Technically, that was true. At the time she’d been conceived, her father had been possessed by a demon, but the Horseman didn’t need to know that.
“Is that so,” he murmured, and that fast, the aura of anger and menace that had surrounded him shifted into something more pleasant but no less dangerous.
His fingers came up to his throat, and his armor disappeared, leaving him in the clothes he’d worn for the ceremony. The white shirt under the tux jacket was unbuttoned at the neck, and his scorpion tattoo peeked out, its pincers opening and closing.
She blinked, wondering if the wine was affecting her vision. “Your tattoos are special, aren’t they?”
“All tattoos are special. People might get one on the spur of the moment, but everyone cares about the design they put on their body.”
“No, I mean… they do something for you.”
She thought he was going to clam up, but instead, he surprised her by shedding his jacket, somehow making the process tantalizing, an unintentional strip tease. He tossed the tux coat to the bed, and those long fingers went to his dress shirt. She couldn’t look away as he unbuttoned it and then made the shirt join the jacket.
Man, oh, man. Didn’t matter that she’d seen his bare upper body before… she didn’t think she’d ever grow used to all that magnificent artwork. His Seal, mounted on a fine gold chain, lay flat between his pecs, perfectly outlined by a Celtic knotted tattoo.
“These are scenes taken out of my head and transferred to my skin.”
“I knew tha“I knet, but why?”
“How did you know?” He moved toward her, slowly, his gait rolling, and she got the sense she was being stalked.
The tingly feeling in her limbs spread, both energizing and relaxing her. “I saw it when I touched you before. I can read tattoos the way I can read ink on parchment.”
The tingle turned into a pleasant burn unlike anything she’d ever felt. What had the vamp said about the wine? Magic. Right. No more for her.
Thanatos stopped when he was standing so close that she had to look up to see his face. “Can you control your empathic abilities?” His voice was husky, wonderfully deep, and it rumbled through her in a curiously erotic wave.
She put down the glass, feeling disconnected, like she was watching someone else set the glass on the dresser. Then she watched as he took her hand and placed it on his throat, over the scorpion that always appeared to be stinging his jugular when he spoke.
“Yes,” she whispered. “I can turn it off and on.”
“Are you… turned on?”
Oh, she caught the wordplay, was very aware it was intentional.
“No,” she said, and it was both truth and lie. She hadn’t switched on her empathic ability, though she could read a faint energy radiating from the scorpion. She was, however, extremely aroused.
Being here now had nothing to do with seducing Thanatos for The Aegis. She wanted him. It was that simple. The fear that she might let her soul-sucking ability loose during an uncontrolled moment didn’t apply here. Thanatos’s shadows would protect him, and for the first time in her life, she wanted to unchain her carnal side and let it hunt.
As if sensing her thoughts, Thanatos fastened his hand to the back of her neck and jerked her close, so their bodies were plastered together, and he mashed his lips against hers. His arousal was a brutal, huge presence against her belly, and his tongue was an assault weapon, breaching the barrier of her lips and taking what it wanted. Everything inside her went liquid and hot. Her breasts tightened, her skin burned, and between her legs, her sex ached.
“And now?” he murmured against her mouth.
“God, yes.” Her pulse leaped in her throat, in time with the throbbing low in her pelvis.
“You drive